Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by

24 reviews

booksjessreads's review against another edition

dark informative sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I read this a while ago but I remember really enjoying it. It was a very thoroughly told story which had convincing character descriptions and telling of events. I felt the story was very emotional in parts and I did feel very connected to Frannie. I think the story is well worth the read and I would definitely re-read this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

becca9849's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

not sure how i feel about this. the writing was very easy to read and made the whole reading experience quite easy, which is a huge plus, since the subject matter was quite hard. i thought the idea of the story really interesting and there were some interesting moments. the plot was completely wild and unpredictable. but i felt like the character was not well fleshed out, which made some of beliefs/actions just seem unrealistic/out of character/just random? i don't know how to explain it but i didn't really believe the character at times. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

alienstookmybooks's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, and Murder

greatexpectations77's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A very well-researched unfolding story. Maybe the writing style wasn't quite my favorite. But great for reflecting on parallels between the anti-slavery movement Brits of then and the the Black-square-posters of today - both finding social justice trendy, but not really looking to commit to actionable change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty and Child death

If reading about babies and birth upsets you in any way, this book may not be for you.

msradiosilence's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was really hard to read, and not because of it’s content, but because I wanted so badly for Frances to get her happy ending. But that’s not the kind of story this is, and it never promised to be.

By all accounts, Frances’ story is a tragedy, and not necessarily of her own making. She’s a strong woman prone to making choices everyone warns her against, but their her choices to make. She did the best she could in her situations, even if the best was something truly horrific.

There can be some interesting speculation on whether Frances is a reliable narrator or not, considering the story is from her point of view, but I think a woman

sentenced to death

has nothing to lose. Why would she garnish the truth?

Anyway, as much as it hurt me, I did really enjoy the book. One of the only 5 star reads from 2021.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

carolinb's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Blood, and Lesbophobia

amberinbookland's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

marieketron's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Review also featured on the Lesbrary This is not a happy book. It tells you that in the title already: the ‘confessions’ refer to Frannie’s written musings that she notes down while she is on trial for the murder of her employer and his wife–the latter of whom she happened to be in a romantic relationship with. Make sure to take note of the content warnings, and be ready for some gruesome scenes. All of this grimness does make for an appropriate setting to the troubles that Frannie is dealing with in the present moment of the story, but it can be overwhelming.

As Frannie recounts the events of her life that have led her to her current predicament, it takes a while for her supposed victims to take the stage, to the point I was becoming slightly impatient with the pacing. It opens with her life as a slave at the Langton plantation in Jamaica (which gave her the name she bears), where she was forced to serve her master as he carried out pseudo-scientific experiments with the aim to prove that African people were not human. That in itself is extremely horrific, and almost numbed me to the further events in the story. Of course, this history is important to understand–both in terms of general history and specifically for Frannie as a character. Still, even knowing that we are learning this history through the writings of Frannie herself, I couldn’t help but wish she would hurry up. Her lingering on this earlier part of her life creates a tense atmosphere, preparing the reader for all the awfulness to come, but this is an approach that either doesn’t work for me or I simply wasn’t in the mood for at the time.

Once Frannie arrives in London, her life becomes even more complicated. She is changed from a slave into a maid, as officially slavery was illegal in England at the time (ca. 1820). This is one of the main moments on which the story turns, where her plantation master gifts her to be employed by his friend, a practice that was still legal and is based on historical fact. It is in this position that she joins the Benham household and meets her employer and his wife (Madame Marguerite or Meg), as well as the other staff, who receive her with mixed feelings. It is also in this position that Frannie grows closer to Madame.

While I believe they both love the other at certain points in the narrative, I couldn’t say that they loved each other at the same time or even in the same way. Their relationship is so inherently shaped by inequalities: Frannie is black, of mixed race, a former slave, a maid, and on top of all that she is educated–which occasionally forces her into the position of sideshow. Madame is wealthy (through her husband), pretty, and of high society, though her being French seems to count as much as a mark against her as in her favour depending on the situation. Most complicated of all though, is the fact that the Benham wealth is generated through slavery, and this cannot ever be removed from the relationship between Frannie and Meg.

On top of all that, Meg has an opium habit that worsens over the course of the book, and she involves Frannie in covering it up so her husband won’t grow aware. There are so many secrets in this story, and the opium secret is an early indication of the bleakness that lives in the Benham marriage, creating another layer to the women’s relationship. It presents a theme often explored in historical fiction: while Madame seemingly has everything she could ever want (husband, wealth, beauty, youth), she either holds these things through her husband or her own age–which of course only ever advances in one direction. She is isolated and even needs drugs to numb the loneliness of her life. In one moment, Frannie suggests that white women are also the property of white men. Still, that doesn’t mean Meg and Frannie suffer the same pains, but the story does a good job of suggesting that the rules of society can protect as much as they can hurt and trap someone. Frannie and Meg just happen to be trapped in different ways.

In the end, these entrapments lead to the death of the Benhams and the imprisonment of Frannie, who is trying to figure out what happened that fateful night. The later chapters where she notes down the proceedings of her court case (all her writings are addressed directly to her lawyer, in the hopes that he can either figure out a defense or share her words, depending on the outcome of the case) come closest to feeling like a murder mystery. There are witnesses, evidence, a judge, and lawyers trying to make the best of it all. This is also where Frannie has a chance to figure out what she did (if anything), as her trauma seems to have blocked her memory. As she unravels the various threads being spun by the background characters in the court case, it becomes clearer to the reader how many more secrets lived in the Benham household, and you begin to question ever more what is and isn’t true. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
The Confessions of Frannie Langton was a perfect book for June, what with it being Pride month and Read Caribbean month. It’s historical fiction, set in both Jamaica and Georgian England and centres on Frannie Langton, a servant and former slave who is accused of murdering her employers. While Frannie can’t recall what happened that fateful night, what she does remember, the story of her life and how she came to be in the dock, is quite the story - one that is definitely worth reading. It involves a childhood on a Jamaican sugar plantation, being raised by an enslaved woman but also taught to read, being forced to serve as scientific assistant on warped and horrific experiments, and then taken to England (where she is free technically but certainly not in reality) and given to another man who puts her to work as a servant. A relationship with her mistress, an opium user, leads to tragic consequences.

I was absorbed in Frannie’s story from beginning to end. It’s certainly a fresh take on the gothic novel, a story which has some initial passing similarities to Jane Eyre but goes so much further. It takes a pointed look at the intersectionality of race, gender, class and sexuality and lays bare the worst excesses of a “science” driven by racism. I was constantly struck by white men acting atrociously and believing they had some divine right to control and direct the lives of others, especially women and moreso when then woman was Black. The story also highlighted how Black knowledge was both feared yet also exploited by white men.

The plot was multi-layered with many additional themes and sub-plots. Occasionally it felt a bit much, especially towards the end of the book, but Collins’s writing and Frannie’s voice always pulled me back.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma